dagolfer18

I got in nine holes at Croasdaile with a buddy yesterday before weather halted play. I managed a 44 and hit the ball well, but I could not buy a putt. Two putts hung on the lip, one missed 18-inch putt and one that did a full revolution around the cup and popped out. Paired with an earlier nine hole round, that brings my handicap down a few more notches to 12.6. Hopefully I can get in one more round before school starts on Tuesday.

I’ve played 59 rounds of golf so far this year. Probably half a dozen were rounds where I was playing solo the entire round. Most of the time, either I’m paired up on the first tee or I start as a single and join up after a few holes.

I would say any course that, from the tips, has a rating of par or higher and a slope in the high 130s or higher. A few examples from some of my local courses: •Treyburn Country Club is a par 72, 7175 yards from the tips. The rating is 74.1/137 •Duke University Golf Course is a par 72, 7154 yards from the tips. The rating is 74.8/142 •Croasdaile Country Club is a par 72, 7068 yards from the tips. The rating is 74.1/141

Today was sort of a last minute decision to play, and I’ll just say this: I’m glad I did! Decided on Croasdaile for this round, blue tees (71.9/136). Heck of a start: I was +1 through 5 with my lone bogey on a par 3 that was playing short today (was playing 130 compared to 150 on the card). But I crashed and burned on the toughest stretch on the course, holes 6 through 9, and I turned in 46. Then I doubled the short par-5 tenth after shanking my third from 80 yards and missing a one-foot putt, and I bogeyed eleven. But then this is where it got interesting. I’ll do a hole-by-hole of the rest of the round: No. 12 (Par 4, 414 yds): Drive to right rough, had about 150 in. I heeled an 8I a bit and came up just short, but got up and down for the par save. No. 13 (Par 5, 510 yds): Poor drive to right trees, but I was able to punch out well. I still had over 200 yards for my third shot, but I nailed it out of the rough to just short and made another up and down par after my birdie chip hung on the lip. No. 14 (Par 3, 180 yds): I hit a gorgeous hybrid to about 12 feet, but three putted after my par putt lipped out. No. 15 (Par 4, 318 yds): I decided to hit driver on this narrow hole and hooked it into the left trees. After a punch out to within 60 yards of the green, I hit a beautiful pitch to seven feet and made the putt for par. No. 16 (Par 4, 410 yds): First Fairway hit on the back nine, had about 170 in. I thinned a 7I into the right bunker and was shortsided, but I hit a great bunker shot and made the putt. No. 17 (Par 4, 359 yds): A drive down the middle left me 120 in. I hit a solid wedge to about 25 feet. Took one quick look (some suspicious clouds were starting to form) and I drilled the putt for birdie. Three over for the side. No. 18 (Par 4, 352 yds): A solid 3W with a baby draw left me a nearly identical yardage to the last hole. Same club, same result: about 25 feet. I gave it a bit too much and it rolled four feet past, but I was able to roll in the comebacker. 46 on the front, 39 on the back. An 85 total on this tough golf course. Even par on the last seven holes, with a par-birdie-par finish. My handicap also took a huge dip: 13.6 to 12.9!

We went back to Falls Village today for the third time this summer. I was the only one of the three of us who submitted a final score, and I ended up shooting a respectable 90 from the blues. Bookend triples, solid golf in between. Two birdies on the 9th (par 5) and 14th (par 3) holes, and a few nice par saves. Putting was the only poor part of my game today: five three putts, four of them on the back. Only one was really “acceptable”, because it was a 60-foot double breaker down the hill. Two were from below the hole, one was after I missed an 18-inch putt and the last one after I tried to backhand a six-inch putt. Bad news: my handicap took a hit. The round coming off my card was at this same course and from the same tees . I adjusted to an 88. Today, I adjusted to an 89. I missed by one because I missed a six-inch backhand putt. Oh well. Such are the many woes of golf.

As far as the forward tees question goes, I support whatever you choose to do! Despite the fact that I usually play yardages around 6300 or 6400, I do enjoy going to a forward tee every once in a while as a sort of “let’s see how low I can go” challenge. As far as leaving the driver at home, I don’t leave it at the house, but I will leave it in the bag if I’m not feeling strong about it.

Shot a nice 83 today at Hillandale from the blues. After starting double-triple, I scrambled my butt off to turn in 43, then shot 40 on the back with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th. After the first two holes, my short game was the best it’s been in a long time. Ballstriking steadily improved too, but it really took a turn for the better once I made the turn. Glad I stayed with it today after a rough start!

Depends on where they’re playing. Most courses around me are fairly wide open. I’ll take Hillandale as an example. Not long at all for the pros, just over 6400 as a par 71. The four par 3s are mid length holes (one about 165, one about 180 and two that are 190). One of them has an all carry approach and one has a tough green. The longest par 4 out there is only about 430 from the blues, which is driver-wedge for most pros, and a lot of them are fairly straightaway. Most are in the range of 370-400 from the blues. All three par 5s are reachable in two, the longest clocking in at 510 and the shortest a mere 440. I know this is just one course, but I’ll say a pro can shoot mid 60s pretty easily.

Four rounds to catch up on: 7/20: Finally got my bro out to Croasdaile to play. I shot 51-44 from the blues that included a nine on the 9th hole. Didn’t putt well: a four putt and four three putts. My bro shot 59 on the front, which isn’t bad at all for him since the front is the tougher side out there, but he played awful on the back. 7/23: Back to the home course for the next three rounds. This one was a nice little 87 where I made a quad on the par-3 third and a triple on 14, but played well apart from that, including back to back birdies on 9 and 10. 7/30: I played the day after we got back from vacation and shot a pretty poor 96. Made a nine on the second hole and it just went downhill from there: 49-47 were the final numbers. 8/1: The best round of the four: shot 40 on the front with no doubles, then a 44 on the back which included a triple on 13 and a double on 17. Total is 84, which I’m super happy with. Also dropped my handicap from 13.8 to 13.5. I’m probably gonna play tomorrow as well, so looking forward to that!

My brother and I played Falls Village today. I played blues, he played whites. I was +9 through 6 with two triples, but I went +1 the last three holes on the side to shoot 46. He hit the ball really well on the front and shot 51 with a nine on the par-4 eighth. Then on the back I shot a 44 finishing with three pars and a double, making for a 90 total. My brother parred the tenth but struggled the last eight holes. He ended up shooting 115. We played on punched greens today. I chipped really well on em, but I couldn’t make a putt to save my life. Oh well. But I did have one major highlight. The ninth hole is a 490-yard double dogleg par 5. I bombed a drive down tente middle and I only had about 220 in. Because I’m apparently starting to hit draws now, and there was a tree on the left side, I decided to try and draw it. Pulled it off and ended up about five feet short of the green. Didn’t make the up and down but I played the hole well.

A buddy and I played 36 holes together the other day, and it wasn’t good for either of us. I shot 98-96, and he shot 81-83 (he’s a 4 hcp). We played two separate matches. In the first round I lost 4&2, but I won on the 18th green in the second round. The only thing really worth noting is that I got up and down from a bunker on 18 in the second round. Oh, and I had fifteen single putts on the day. By the 12th hole in the second round, we were both drained mainly because we weren’t playing well at all, and honestly, all we cared about was finishing the round. I somehow played the last four at +2 though. Not a good day, especially after 27 holes of spectacular golf the two days prior, but I’ve put it behind me at this point.

I’ve been playing golf for about seven years, but I’ve only been keeping an official handicap for about two. But based on how I was playing a year in, I’d say my handicap was probably between 35 and 40 under the new system.

I played a quick nine holes early afternoon today and shot a nice little 41. Only two really rough holes, a double on 5 after a poor chip and a bogey on 6 after I missed a green from inside 100 yards. The highlight, though, was on the ninth hole. I was just off the short par 5 in two, and I had a fairly straightforward chip up the hill. Nearly dropped, and I ended with a birdie to end the nine. I’ve got a tee time set for tomorrow, and I’ve been playing well my last 27 holes, so I’m excited to see what I can do!

My bro and I played 18 today after I got off work. I was +4 through 4 which included a chip in for birdie, but then I went crazy. I parred the next seven holes in a row, making the turn in 40 in the process. My brother shot 51 on the front and I didn’t keep his score on the back. Then I bogeyed the next two and went double-bogey on 14 and 15. Nine over. Then a four-putt quad on 16 sent me to +13. I managed to get up and down for par on 17 and scratched one final birdie out of the signature par-3 18th for an 84. My second best round out there, and my lowest in a while. It also brings my handicap down to 13.4, a new low!

I disagree. That would mean I move up to the golds on courses, since I typically alternate between blue and white. I’m a 13 handicap who enjoys the challenge from the blue tees and trying to go low from the whites.

My best shot of the week so far is my second shot I hit on the 12th at Lonnie Poole. The hole was a 390-yard par 4 from the tees I played, but it was all downhill. I hit a solid 3W down the middle and had about 150 in. I decided to hit the PW for my approach and took dead aim at the flag. It looked like it was going in all the way, and it finished six inches from the hole for a tap-in birdie. That hole righted the ship after a rough start to the back nine. I could technically hit a better shot when my brother and I play this afternoon, so I may pay a second visit to this topic later today, but that shot’s gonna be hard to top!

First option 100%. I cannot stand gnats on a humid day when I’m already somewhat miserable, and I actually like playing golf in the wind and with something on the line.

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do in this thread: five rounds played for me since the beginning of the month. 7/2: I ended up getting a 2:50 tee time at Croasdaile after getting off work after an opening shift. I parred the first hole, then made five straight 6s, which included two par 3s. I ended with a 49 on the front and a 44 on the back with a quad on the par-3 14th. Still, a 93 at that course isn’t too bad. Putting wasn’t that great, but everything else was alright. 7/3: From a super tough course to a super easy course: Occoneechee. Played the white tees, but that didn’t help scoring at all: I shot 44-47. Going into the last three holes, I was three strokes behind my dad. But then I made a weak double and my swing pretty much caved. I finished bogey (on what was essentially a 400-yard par 5)-triple. Not a bad round thru 15 (I was +14 at that point), but playing the last three at +6 was just bad. 17 should’ve been a par at worst and 18 should’ve been a bogey at worst. 7/6: I played 36 holes at two awesome golf courses. Morning round was at The Preserve at Jordan Lake. Playing the blue/white hybrid (6468 yds, 71.4/135), I shot 42-47 for 89. I’d say a pretty good round! Definitely could’ve put up a lower number due to putting, but I was pretty happy. Then I made an afternoon tee time (4:10 to be exact) at Lonnie Poole, one of my bucket list golf courses. What made it even better was that I played under a twilight rate of $52. Anyway, on to the round! I played the red tees, which were 6502 yards per the card (rating 70.8/132), as did the other three guys I was paired with. I shot 43 on the front and started quad-double on the back, but then I played the last seven holes at +4, which included two birdies, to finish with a very respectable 89. While again, it could’ve been better (I had a bit of bunker trouble on the tenth hole), I was thrilled to have been able to play there, with a solid round to boot! This was actually one of my better ballstriking days, but putting was mediocre (37 putts in the morning round and 36 in the afternoon). Nine three putts total. Guess I need to work on putting a bit! 7/7: Last minute decision to play yesterday, and after a 36-hole grind the day before I didn’t expect much. We went off the back, and I actually shot 45 on the tougher back nine, so a mid-80s round was a definite possibility. But on the front nine (our back), my swing started to fail me. By the time we got to the ninth tee, I had recorded a double and three triples. I managed one last birdie on the short par 5 after a great pitch to keep my second nine under 50. My total: 45-49 for 94. Was it wise to play yesterday? Probably not. Do I regret it? A little bit. But my handicap didn’t take a hit, so at least there’s that.

I’ve played both the last two days. Played Legacy in Pinehurst on Monday and shot 87 (43-44) from the blues. Had another match with a buddy, beat him 5&3. I had two very stupid triples: one because of a near impossible hole location (I missed a two footer from above the hole and it rolled six feet by) and one after I missed an 18-inch putt. Apart from that, I hit the ball well and putted well. I hit several great putts and a lot were burning the edge of the hole. My handicap dropped to 13.5. Then yesterday my brother and I played Lake Winds, a super short course (5917 from blues, 68.9/123). I started with a triple after nuking my approach over the green, which is dead. I ended up shooting 47 on the front and 45 on the back for 92, which is a 21.2 differential out there. The highlight came on the short dogleg right par-4 tenth. It barely clears 300 from the blues and you can cut the corner. I opted to try and I pulled it off. Nicked a branch or two, but I was still in prime position, about 25 yards short of the green. Nearly holed my eagle pitch! The handicap stays 13.5. I’m feeling good right now.

After buying a set of Jaws wedges (52/56/60), I sped off to Umstead to play nine holes. I was sent off the back, and I decided to play the blues (3343 yards, par 36). I started off with a triple on the par-5 tenth after dumping a wedge shot in the bunker (great contact, just misjudged the yardage), but I played the next six holes, what may be the toughest stretch, at +6. Nine over going into 17, a 375-yard par 4. I hit my drive down the middle and had just under 150 left, uphill slightly, and I decided to hit one of my favorite shots, an 85% 8I with the slightest bit of forward shaft lean. And…a dart to six feet. Drilled the putt for birdie, back to +8. Then, after pulling my tee shot on the par-3 18th, I hit a really nice 60 degree pitch off a weird stance to about ten feet. And I was able to curl that in the side door to finish with a 44. First review on my new wedges: I love ‘em. I made a few other nice up and downs today, and I’ve found that these produce a little more spin than my Cleveland wedges. I’m looking forward to using them in the future! And some more good news: after my horrific nine earlier this week, I was able to limit my upward handicap movement to just 0.1, meaning it’ll go from 13.8 to 13.9. First upward movement of the year for me. Also, I may be playing Tobacco Road with a few friends on Monday, so looking forward to that too!

One of my best shots was actually from one of my rounds last week. Fourth hole was a short par 5 (about 480 from the tees I played). After a poor tee shot and a very weak layup I had about 165 in to a front pin. Oh, and the greens at this particular course were firm and fast. I hit one of the best 7 irons I’ve ever hit, and it landed on the front fringe and somehow checked up. I had four feet left for birdie. And, in case you’re wondering, my first putt on this slick green rolled six feet past, then I missed that. One of my worst shots was a few years ago. I was using my dad’s old clubs (probably a two-club difference from my clubs). Anyway, I was on the 11th hole on the left side of the fairway, and I had a 6I in. What followed was a ninety-degree hosel shank that ran all the way into the hazard on the right, 60 yards to the right of where my ball was. That was embarrassing.

I played nine holes this morning, and it was back to the familiar turf of Umstead Pines. We decided on the white tees. I managed to get up and down for par on the first hole, but that turned out to be my best hole of the day. From the second hole on, I didn’t hit a single fairway, and I only hit one green, which I three putted. It all added up to a hacker’s 49. On the easy front nine of the course, that’s a huge disappointment. I honestly could not get off the tee. I only hit one fairway (the first hole), and my only good miss was on the second hole. I gotta get on the range.

I just got a crazy idea. I played 36 in a day earlier this week riding both rounds, and I honestly wasn’t tired at all, so I was thinking about doing 54 in a day, with a rough timeline: 7:30- First round 11:15- Break 12:00- Second round 3:45- Break 4:30- Third round I’m thinking it would probably be best to stick to the same course in all three rounds, otherwise I’ll be competing with daylight. Also, I’m planning to take a cart for at least two of the three rounds, most likely all three. My logic with four and a half hours between tee times is pretty simple: at my home course (which is where I’ll be playing all three rounds), just about everyone plays at a good pace, and nine times out of ten I can get around in four hours or less. What do y’all think? Anyone else done this?

I played River Ridge in Raleigh today, and I decided on the blues (6206 yds, 70.1/130). I ground out a 44 on the front with one par and eight bogeys, a few of which could’ve easily been doubles, then came in with a 47 with two triples and two pars. Both the triples were after lost balls. But I’ll take 91 on this course on my first time around and on a day when I didn’t have my A game. The highlight of the day came when I hit the par-5 18th in two. What do I do next? Three putt for par from 20 feet. Oh well. But the good news is my handicap stays right where it is: 13.8.

I played 36 yesterday at Falls Village. One of my buddies joined me for my morning round, and we decided to have another match. Last time we played, he won on 18 after drilling a 30-footer for par. I played the blue tees (6474 yards, 71.9/131) and he played the tips (7072 yards, 73.8/137). Because of our handicap difference, I would get a stroke on eight holes. From the start, I could tell this was going to be another close one: we both made lengthy par putts on the first hole. By the end of the front nine, I was one down, having shot 48 to his 41. But then I got hot: I started the back nine bogey-par-par and opened up a two-hole lead with six to play, and I stroked on two of them. I’ll do a hole-by-hole of the last holes of the match: No. 13: I’m just short of the green laying two, and he’s sitting two in the trees. He makes a beautiful up-and-down, and I drain a four-footer to keep my momentum. 2up No. 14: Par 3. We both miss the green and we both hit mediocre chips. We both two putt. 2up No. 15: Short par 5. One of my stroke holes, so a par would, unless he eagles, tie at worst. He’s in for birdie after burning the edge of the cup with his eagle chip, and I have a five-footer to tie the hole. Dead center. 2up No. 16: Shortish par 3 (151 from the blues). He comes up just short, and I hit the green leaving 20 feet for birdie. He hits an awesome chip and taps in for par, and I two putt. 2up (Dormie) No. 17: Short par 4. He hits a huge drive and I hit 3 wood off the tee and I have about 140 in, downwind but uphill. I choose a PW and I nuke it right at the pin. It rolls just over the back. He also hits his wedge over from about 100 out. I was in a good position to at least par, so he almost had to chip in. It rolled five feet past, then he missed that. Three putts to win the match, and I needed only two. 3&1 Then I tripled 18 after I played a fade off the tee and it drew. Still, that was a 41 on the back for 89 total. A very solid round, and I bounced back after a tough loss in the first match. There’s not much to say about my second round. I started and finished well (+2 thru 4 and +4 for the last 6), but in between was awful. Three nines in that stretch meant I played the middle eight holes at +22. That added up to 100. Not good. The good news is that my handicap is still dropping. It’s at a 13.8 now.